For the first time in nearly 60 years, the Martin County High School baseball team has punched its ticket to the state semifinals.
It came in miraculous fashion.
The Tigers were down by eight runs with six outs left in their season to work with. They responded emphatically, exploding for 15 runs to erase two deficits in the final two innings and complete an improbable 16-10 comeback victory against Lake Minneola in Game 3 of the Region 2-6A best-of-three series on Saturday, May 9 from Lake Minneola High School.
Dropping Game 1 in a walk-off, Martin County rallied by capturing the next two games to take the series, win the region and advance to its first state semifinal since 1968.
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“It just shows you how hard of a road it is to get there, especially in baseball,” Tigers head coach Brett Hawkins said of breaking the program’s dry spell. “The state of Florida is just so competitive, so many good teams and so many good players. It comes down to fight, grit and which team wants it more, and luck here and there.”
Here are three takeaways from the series.
‘The craziest, most unbelievable high school game’
Hawkins went to seven different pitchers in Game 3. Martin County (24-7) trailed the majority of the time he marched to the mound to get the ball.
But whenever Hawkins made a trip, his players maintained a positive spirit, regardless of what the scoreboard read.
“I’d go out and even as I was making pitching changes, the attitude was still, ‘It’s all right,’” he said. “They were telling the next pitcher, ‘We’ll swing and we’ll hit nine home runs to get this game back to where we need to be.’ That was just the mentality all the way across the board.”
The visitors didn’t quite club nine home runs, but the three they sent out of the park were as massive as any hit in program history.
After the Tigers trimmed the deficit to 9-5 in the top of the sixth inning, Wyatt Parks stepped to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. The junior worked the count to 2-2 before smashing a ball to the opposite field for a game-tying grand slam.
“The whole atmosphere and everything just completely changed,” Hawkins said.
Lake Minneola (24-7) answered with a run in the bottom of the frame, taking the 10-9 lead into the seventh, but Martin County wouldn’t be denied.
The road team tied the game before Zach Stern drove in Spencer Preston III for the go-ahead run with an RBI single to left. One pitch later, Zane Moody immediately provided insurance with a no-doubt grand slam over the right-field fence. Parks followed with a solo shot for his second home run in as many innings.
All seven of the Tigers’ runs in the seventh came with no outs. Senior Ethan Chan, who pitched in every game in the series, tossed a perfect bottom of the frame to seal the comeback.
“It just shows you the kind of makeup the boys have,” Hawkins said. “This group is just one of those teams that don’t ever have that give-in attitude
“That’s probably the craziest, most unbelievable high school game I’ve ever seen or been a part of, just the way it happened and all played out.”
‘It’s easier said than done’
Martin County only got to a winner-take-all Game 3 by taking care of business in Game 2.
Landon Del Tufo and Preston Sullivan each hit home runs to lead the Tigers to a 10-4 win earlier in the day.
Tied 3-3 through three innings, the visitors put up three runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth.
Finishing with three RBIs, Sullivan went 2-for-3 at the plate, as did Frankie Brancaleone, who had a double, drove in two and scored twice. Meanwhile, Hunter Wilson got the win on the mound after allowing two runs on five hits and a walk through three innings.
The team’s Game 2 performance was just hours removed from a crushing series opener. Malachi Meyers socked a walk-off home run Friday night to put Martin County in an 0-1 hole.
“The boys took it and we’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll be back tomorrow, we’ll turn the page and be ready to go.’ It’s easier said than done,” Hawkins said. “We came out in Game 2, played well, got on top of them, and then we just kind of put them down. And then again, Game 3 was history.”
Buchholz is next
Winners of 10 of their last 11 games, the Tigers earned the fourth seed in the state bracket.
They’ll face top-seeded Buchholz at 10 a.m. Friday, May 15 from Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.
The Bobcats (24-7) are the Region 1-6A champions. They swept Pace, the top-ranked team in 6A, during the region finals.
“Buchholz has been good for years in multi-sports,” Hawkins said. “But it’s high school baseball, anything could happen. (Game 3) kind of proves that, but we’ll see how it all lays out and we’ll give it the best shot we have.”
Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for Treasure Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at 772-985-9692, on X at @PatBernadeau or via email at pbernadeau@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Martin County baseball stages epic comeback to reach 6A state semifinals
Reporting by Patrick Bernadeau, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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